Lebrun: Monsignor Rejean Lebrun

Monsignor Rejean Lebrun is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall. Ordained 31 May 1962.

Father Lebrun testified at the Cornwall Public Inquiry 21 July 2008.

According to his testimony back in the mid to late 60s Father Lebrun heard sex abuse allegations/rumours against four diocesan clergy: Fathers Paul Lapierre, Hollis Lapierre, Lucien Lussier and Carl Stone. He did nothing, claiming he was a new priest with very little experience.

Father Lebrun Sues

Monsignor Rejean Lebrun was one one of six priests from the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall who, along with Bishop Eugene Larocque, initiated legal action in the Fall of 2000 against 8 persons or businesses. The lawsuit did not proceed to discovery never mind trial.

See the Statement of Claim and further details regarding the lawsuit here:

1987: to Pontifical University, St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome for diploma in pastoral theology (from lawsuit)

1990: Monsignor (from lawsuit)

Mid 90s while at Nativity “alleged” clerical paedophile Father Gaetan Deschamps had Nativity listed as his address (according to the lawsuit, “at that time, his contributions to his community were widely recognized by members of Parliament, churches of various denunciations, and by representatives of the Cornwall community.”

In 1993 the Knights of Columbus of Cornwall (Council # 9695 – Chapter Nativity of the BVM Co-Cathedral) sponsored the first chapter of the Columbiettes, its female affiliate, in Canada. The Cornwall Columbiettes soon had four more chapters up and running, all in Sudbury. In 2003 Ontario became a State Council for the Columbiettes with its entire slate of state officers from Cornwall and Sudbury and Father Rejean Lebrun as State Chaplain.

Member of the Christian Council of Cornwall, Ontario for nearly 30 years (from lawsuit)

Priest ‘not prepared’ to deal with allegations of abuse

A North Stormont clergyman told the Cornwall Public Inquiry he was “not at all prepared” to handle abuse allegations he received in the 1950s and 1960s against his fellow priests.

Msgr. Réjean Lebrun, who was ordained by the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese in 1962, told a lawyer for a community group he didn’t turn over complaints against Paul Lapierre, Lucien Lussier, and Carl Stone to the authorities because of his inexperience.

“I was not at all prepared for that type of situation,” said Lebrun, 73.

“It was completely beyond me.”

Testifying in French, Lebrun told the inquiry – which is probing how institutions like the diocese handled allegations of sexual abuse from decades earlier – that Lapierre was the vicar in the parish where he grew up.

It was there, Lebrun said, that he first heard rumours Lapierre had assaulted another youth.

Lapierre was found guilty in 2004 by a Quebec judge for assaulting a 13-year-old Montreal boy in the 1960s. He had previously been charged and acquitted in Ontario.

Lebrun said he tried to divulge the rumours to the victim’s mother after Lapierre’s trial, but she didn’t want to hear them.

“That was the end of that story,” Lebrun said. “So I did not follow up.”

Lebrun said he also received an allegation against Stone in 1965 from a Cornwall high school student.

Stone – who died two years ago – had left the diocese in 1963. Lebrun said when he went to another priest for an explanation for Stone’s departure, the priest threw his hands up and said “young boys.”

Lebrun also said he learned of a relationship between Lussier and another boy “in very little detail” during a meeting with Lussier’s parishioners sometime around 1967.

Lussier was charged in September 2007 and again in January 2008 with indecent assault charges going back five decades. His case is still before the courts.

Peter Wardle, an attorney for the Citizens for Community Renewal, suggested that in the 1960s, the clergy viewed sexual abuse allegations as something “the bishop was dealing with.”

It was likely Lebrun wouldn’t have felt obligated to go to the police or the Children’s Aid Society, Wardle said.

“You’re absolutely right,” said Lebrun. “I only had three years’ experience. I was a very, very new priest.”

Lebrun told Dallas Lee, an attorney for The Victims Group, he also learned of an allegation against a fourth priest, Hollis Lapierre, in the 1960s.

A young man in his 20s had come for advice on whether it was all right to sleep with his same-sex lover. When Lebrun said it wasn’t, the man replied: “So what do you do with Father (Hollis) Lapierre, who plays with the young people?”

Lebrun said he was “really angered” by the allegation, which he delivered to the bishop’s office.

Lebrun testified there was still no official protocol in place two decades later when allegations surfaced against another priest, Gilles Deslauriers.

Deslauriers pleaded guilty in November 1986 to four counts of gross indecency and was sentenced to two years’ probation.

“We were profoundly shocked,” said Lebrun. “It was the first time we had to manage such a crisis. We were lost.”

Lebrun was the priest at the former St. John Bosco parish from 1972 until 1987, and knew Deslauriers from the time he boarded there while he was chaplain at la Citadelle, a local high school.

One of Deslauriers’ victims told police that Deslauriers would molest him in his office, stopping temporarily as Lebrun walked by.

Lebrun said he never saw the abuse happen. “The windows were frosted,” said Lebrun. “I never saw anything, really. I never heard anything.”

After the allegations against Deslauriers became public, rumours spread through the parish without any official statement from the bishop’s office, Lebrun said.

Still, then-bishop Eugene LaRocque was saddened by the situation and wanted to take action, Lebrun said.

“I don’t remember the exact words but I remember enough to tell you that Msgr. LaRocque was deeply troubled by these events,” he told Lee.

Over the next decade-and-a-half, Lebrun would take part in many meetings with the goal of hammering out a protocol for dealing with abuse complaints.

He helped craft the diocese’s 2003 guidelines, and said Monday that he regretted not having a similar protocol to refer to decades earlier.

“Had I had the knowledge I have today, the guidelines I have today, the protocol I have today, it’s clear that the reactions I would’ve had would be very different,” Lebrun said.

Some Catholic Workers Were Afraid For Their Safety-Inquiry

Cornwall News AM 1220

July 21, 2008 — Rumours of child sex abuse allegations had some local Catholic Church workers afraid for their safety. Monsignor Rejean Lebrun spoke at the Cornwall Public Inquiry this morning about how the local diocesan centre became a victim of vandelism in the 1990’s after rumours surfaced about child sex abuse in the area. Lebrun says the church could feel hostility and backlash. Lebrun says the church also faced verbal abuse, threats and graffiti. Through a translator, he says they felt under attack with this “hysteria”. (Hear audio clip below) Some local priests have been accused of sexually abusing children in the area. At least one was convicted.

[Transcript of audio clip: when we’d come into the rectory in the evenings we’d never get out of the car without having travelled around the perimeter of the parking lot ith the lights illuminating the area see that we could see no one was hiding there]

Area Priest Details Experience With Sex Abuse Allegations-Inquiry

Cornwall News AM 1220

July 21, 2008 — A Cornwall priest has spoken out about his personal experience involving child sex abuse allegations. Through pauses, Father Rejean Lebrun told the Cornwall Public Inquiry yesterday that it was a painful situation when his brother came to see him in 1970. Lebrun told the commission that he believes that another priest attempted to sexually touch his brother, who was 15 years old at time. Lebrun says he took his “courage in both hands” and went to a Monsignor with the allegation. According to Lebrun, the priest in question was not employed by the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, and was told to leave the diocese where he worked, the next day. Lebrun would only say that the priest is now deceased.